miamivicefandomcom-20200223-history
The Lost Madonna
"The Lost Madonna" is the fourteenth episode of Miami Vice's fifth season. The episode premiered on March 17, 1989. Summary Crockett & Tubbs help an NYPD detective recover a piece of a 15th century Madonna statue worth millions. Plot The Vice team watch a pier owned by a dealer named Joey Scianti (Peter Dobson) with a freighter coming in for a man named Arroyo, a $20 million load inside. Then Stanley Costa shows up at the drop, as well as Scianti and Arroyo's men, and Sicanti tells Arroyo's men they can't use the pier for their drop, and they leave, but Costa stays, and talk about beautiful women, and Sal Castelli (Ned Eisenberg) takes a bag with Scianti and leaves. Crockett moves in to arrest Costa, then someone throws two cats at Crockett and Costa opens fire, Tubbs shoots him down and check his two bags in his truck and find they are two paintings. At OCB, NYPD Detective Whitehead (Michael Chiklis) lets the team know he was on the trail of the artwork recovered the previous night, that Scianti's father Albert was the mastermind of an art theft in Paris seven years ago, the two pictures found were parts of the 15th century triptych The Madonna of the Spirits, and Joey Scianti drove off with the centerpiece, The Madonna. The entire set (including Joey's piece) can bring $17 million, and Whitehead wants a press blackout to ensure the possibility of recovery for The Madonna. Castillo grants a 36 hour blackout. Castelli & Scianti are looking for Costa (but don't know Costa was killed) and the Madonna. Whitehead shows a slide show of recent art works, Crockett is very skeptical, but Tubbs is appreciative of the displays, and displays a Kostabi painting (a copy) that can get Crockett & Tubbs in to see Scianti. Scianti father & son (along with Castelli) have lunch and Albert wants his son to sell the Madonnas to a Greek buyer for $17 million. Tubbs (as Cooper, an art professor) heads to Scianti's museum and meets Julia Scianti (Elizabeth Berridge), and they have an extensive art discussion, then Tubbs offers the Kostabi painting to Julia, her price is $250,000 and sets a meet that afternoon with Joey & Castelli, and the exchange is made, afterwards they talk about Crockett & Tubbs working with Costa, and they think they have the Madonna. Tubbs, the Sciantis, and Castelli attend an art auction, where they buy their own painting, and Julia invites Tubbs & Crockett to an art party, and they follow the Castelli men, where they overhear a discussion between Joey & Nikos Plato, the Greek buyer of the Madonna. Crockett leaves to run down Nikos while Tubbs stays at the party, and lets Joey know he has a very wealthy buyer, more so than Nikos, if he's interested. At OCB, Crockett wants the press blackout lifted so Nikos would be scared off and force the Scianti's to sell to Tubbs (because they live to make deals), but Whitehead wants it left in place, saying the Sciantis will sit on the Madonna rather than sell with the publicity, and says the Vice cops are amateurs. Castillo agrees to lifting the blackout, and Tubbs has two visitors, Joey & Castelli, who think he has the two paintings, and sends Castelli to "take care" of Tubbs. Then Joey hears the news report confirming the police have the paintings, and Tubbs knocked out Castelli. Tubbs gets rough with Whitehead over his visit last night, and, as Crockett predicted, Nikos backs off the Madonna deal, and his muscle knocks Castelli & Scianti around. Whitehead wants $11 million in buy money for the Madonna, Crockett suggests using drugs instead (as the Sciantis are into dope too), and leaves Whitehead in charge of the operation. Tubbs sets up the deal for that afternoon. Julia is disgusted that her brother & cousin are considering trading the Madonna for drugs, that they don't appreciate fine art. The team (and Whitehead) are in position for the drop, and Whitehead and Scianti go out to Joey's car to get the Madonna but Whitehead knocks Joey out and gets the Madonna while he calls the detectives inside on a fake officer down. Joey comes to and sees Whitehead drive off with the Madonna and he chases him in his car. They take Castinelli into custody and go after Whitehead (who planned this from the beginning), who heads for the cruiseport, with Scianti on his tail. Crockett, Tubbs & Switek arrive as well, looking for both. Crockett spots Whitehead dressed like a Jamaican and goes after him, and so does Scianti, who catches him on the ground floor, but Whitehead shoots him down, and runs off. Crockett & Tubbs catch him, and in the process the Madonna is broken. Turns out the Madonna he had was fake, and the real one was in the hands of Julia, who was there with Sigmar, a fellow artist, and after pulling a knife on Crockett, she then offers $8 million to drop the whole thing, but Crockett arrests her anyway, after explaining how the Madonna came to be, and how he knew that Julia had the real one. Notes *Michael Chiklis (who made his TV debut here) would go on to star as Det. Vic Mackey on the hard-hitting crime drama The Shield. *Ned Eisenberg makes his third Miami Vice appearance, his others were in "Yankee Dollar" and "Lombard". *Switek makes a reference to LeRoy Neiman (1927- ), a famous painter of sports figures. *The Colonnade Hotel (where Crockett & Tubbs meet with the Scianti's) still exists in Coral Gables, now owned by the Starwood Hotel Chain, under the Westin brand. * An instrumental 'extension' of the Eric Clapton song She's Waiting can be heard near the end of the episode, apparently played by studio musicians (although the guitar work is very much in the style of Clapton, leading some to believe it is actually him playing, a theory which has yet to be proved either way). As of yet the music has never been released. Music *"Twist In My Sobriety" by Tanita Tikariam (at art party) *"She's Waiting" by Eric Clapton (Whitehead in cruise port and Scianti & the Vice cops looking for him) Quotes *"That's so pure I can't even find it!" -- Crockett to Whitehead after viewing Lucy Lammermoor's painting of absolutely nothing *"I almost got planted in a body bag off I-95, so save the Masterpiece Theatre act! -- Tubbs to Whitehead *"That's real blood, man!" -- Scianti to Whitehead, before he dies Category:Miami Vice Season 5 Episodes